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Google gives Buzz users more control over their inbox

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Google Buzz has been sending an inordinate number of e-mail notifications to users that detail all the activity happening within their social sphere. It became overwhelming, and the Buzz community made Google aware of it.

In response, Google announced that it has launched new Buzz features that will significantly cut down on all the messages users are receiving in their Gmail inbox.

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The first addition gives users the option of deciding which e-mails from Google Buzz they will receive. When users go to their Buzz settings, they can choose to receive all friend comments on their posts, comments sent after they comment on a post, or only those messages added to a discussion thread after someone replies to something they added to the site.

Google also said that e-mails users receive will now give an explanation for why they were delivered to the Inbox. For example, e-mails alerting users to a comment will read, ‘Delivered to Inbox because you commented on this.’

To make it a little easier to cut down on all the messages, Google has also added a ‘mute’ button that allows users to tell the company not to send similar alerts in the future.

Google’s most recent updates to Buzz follow a long line of improvements the company has made to the service. At its launch, for example, Google was forced to update Buzz privacy settings after users complained that their most-contacted acquaintances were made viewable to the entire Buzz community by default.

It’s commendable that Google is updating its service when it receives user complaints. But all these updates make me wonder if the Web giant is really prepared to run a social network. It seems that the bad press just keeps coming for Buzz.

-- Don Reisinger

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